CM to MLAs: Talk to me, no letters please

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: If sources are to be believed, one of the ruling party MLAs threatened to walk out of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held at a private hotel here on Thursday when state leaders reportedly refused to hear his pleas.

However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah intervened, pacified and gave a patient hearing to B.R.Patil, one of the senior most members of the Legislative Assembly.

It was Patil who had initiated the process of writing a letter to the CM seeking to convene the CLP to discuss the grievances of legislators following the ‘indifferent’ attitude of certain ministers.

It is said that around 20 MLAs had signed the letter and former minister and Koppal MLA Basavaraj Rayaraddi had promised to speak on their behalf. Soon after the meeting began, Siddaramaiah reportedly took Rayaraddi to task for writing a letter instead of speaking with him directly to discuss the grouses of MLAs.

The matter has asumed serious proportions because of this and had reached the media which reported that all is not well in the ruling party.

All this could have been avoided had these legislators met him personally in the office or house to narrate their grievances. Instead, they took the letter route which was not correct, the CM remarked angrily. Seeing this, Rayaraddi who had promised to raise the grievances of other lawmakers, kept quiet.

At this juncture, Patil reportedly tried to discuss the problems of fellow MLAs but seniors opined it was not necessary since the CM had dealt with the issue. Agitated over this, Patil threatened to walk out of the CLP but was prevented by Siddaramaiah who gave a patient hearing to him.

Later, Patil spoke about expectations people had from the government and requested the CM to release funds for the development of constituencies.

Siddaramaiah reportedly told them it would be difficult because Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore is required for the implementation of all the five guarantee schemes from the next financial year and Rs 32,000 crore in the current fiscal.

The CM also said the mobilization of resources would be the biggest challenge because it needs to be done without causing any additional burden on the general public.

Already, the prices of milk, electricity, and liquor have been hiked, he said.